The case of the missing vaccine…if only they knew…

Monica Davey

The swine flu vaccine has become a coveted commodity all over the country, but someone in Milwaukee appeared at first glance to carry the notion to a new level this week, stealing off in a refrigerated truck that was hauling 930 of the prized doses.

The doses were being returned to Milwaukee’s main storage facility on Thursday evening after a public vaccination clinic when one or more people took off in the truck, which had been left idling and unattended only for moments, the authorities said.

The police found the truck 40 minutes later, and said the crime appeared to have been inspired more by the easily available vehicle than by the H1N1 vaccine inside. In fact, the vaccine was all found, apparently untouched and perhaps even unnoticed.

The doses will now be sent back to their manufacturers, although Milwaukee, like seemingly every other city, has plenty of people hoping to get one. “Given that it was out of our chain of custody, we cannot validate the integrity of that vaccine,” said Bevan K. Baker, the city health commissioner.

As prosecutors considered charges against a man suspected in the theft, there was other fallout: the department will no longer employ the transport company involved, Mr. Baker said, and trucks bearing H1N1 doses will now be escorted by a police squad car.

“We’re prepared to give this precious cargo its appropriate resting place” – in arms and noses, he said

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/us/07truck.html?_r=3&hpw